Gary Kremen, chief executive office of Sex.com, donated the money to the Joint Defense Group, a coalition of adult companies working to combat the patent infringement claims that Acacia Technologies Group is leveling against the adult entertainment industry.
“We love to see this type of support,” Spike Goldberg, president of Homegrown Video and a member of the Joint Defense Group, told XBiz Tuesday. “Most of our donations have been from small companies. It’s nice to see one of the big guys stand up and help out.”
Acacia, whose company name is derived from a variety of thorny shrubs, claims to own the patents covering the transmission of streaming audio and video over the Internet. In its most recent court hearing, Acacia sought to have the entire adult industry labeled as the defendant in a class-action lawsuit
The donation will allow the defense group to continue its legal battles against Acacia, which have lasted for more than two years and have totaled more than $1 million in court costs so far.
“This case is going to set an important precedent to all the others that would like to exploit the same business model as Acacia,” said Kremen in a recently issued statement. “The defendants need the help and I am happy to support their efforts.”
Goldberg, who believes that the battle against Acacia could last years, said he hopes that the donation will spur other adult companies to join in the battle
“As an industry, if we don’t stick together, we’ll be picked off one by one. Acacia is the first time it’s happened, but rest assured it won’t be the last,” Goldberg said. “At this point, we’re not just fighting for ourselves.”
Joint Defense Group members include ClubJenna, Cybernet Ventures Inc., Lightspeed, VS Media and Homegrown Video.
The Joint Defense Group is scheduled to be back in U.S. District Court on Dec. 2 and 3, when motions will be heard to invalidate two of Acacia’s five U.S. patents.